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Refuge #1 The Buddha…

For those of you who have been following my blog on the 10 Paramitas I hope you will enjoy the next series of blog posts on the 16 Buddhist Precepts: Three Refuges, the Three Pure Precepts, and eventually the Ten Grave Precepts. Each post will give you the opportunity to learn about the precept and then I hope you will take some time to focus, sit, and practice each one. It may take you many months, but the adventure will be worthwhile. It can help you get through the daily challenges and misfortunes of life with some ease and peace and it can help you help others to make this a better more compassionate place in which to live.

For those who have not studied Buddhism and may come from a different spiritual or religious background just knowing that someone is asking you to take refuge in the Buddha may be a little “off putting” as some might say. But if we understand what students and followers of Buddhism think about the man Siddhartha Gautama you will see how you too can use this refuge in a positive life affirming way.

The Buddha is not someone like Jesus Christ who is worshiped and venerated as though he was the one and only son of God at the top of the hierarchy or in a trinity with God. Siddhartha was a man who spent the early part of his life searching for the meaning of life and the causes of its inherent suffering. In the process he walked down many different paths looking for the answer. Exactly like many of you are doing today. Then one day he decided he was just going to sit in silence as long as it took and it worked. Some say he sat under the Bodhi tree for 49 days where he finally attained enlightenment. He was then given the name Buddha which means an “awakened one.”

How odd that all he got was the title “awakened one” yet how wonderful indeed! Because guess what that means—I can be a Buddha and you can be a Buddha if we take our pursuit seriously. From that time forward his followers began looking to have the same experience he did and they practiced sitting (Zazen) in the hopes of becoming enlightened. But they did more than just sit—they walked through life using the principles he taught and they soon discovered that when they did this they found their lives filled with peace, love, joy, and compassion and some even found enlightenment.

Norman Fisher in his book Training in Compassion Zen Teachings on the Practice of Lojong (2013) writes this in his introduction.

Compassion and resilience are not, as we might imagine, rarified human qualities available only to the saintly. Nor are they adventitious experiences that arise in us only in extraordinary circumstances. In fact, these essential and universally prized human qualities can be solidly cultivated by anyone willing to take the time to do it. They can become the way we are and live on a daily basis. We can train our minds. We are not stuck with our fearful, habitual, self-centered ways of seeing and feeling (page x).

Therefore, if you would like to see your life emptied of fear, negative habits, and self-centeredness I hope you will take some time to focus on becoming the Buddha. You may not make it in this life, but there is no harm in trying—in fact, only good can come from it. So let’s begin today!

Start by taking refuge in the Buddha, the “awakened one” and watch what happens. It just could be the transformation you have been seeking.

Things to focus on this week:

I will begin each day with the intention of finding an opportunity to share compassion with at least one person: self, stranger, family member, or friend.

When I feel a negative emotion I will ask myself, “What would the Buddha do?”

Next, I will express compassion and caring for myself and for all others involved.